The Blooms at Great John Street. A Great Day at the Fayre.......

Yesterday was an indeed an adventure.  All packed up and ready to go in the morning. Many a bloom. A dress. Cupcakes. Macaroons. Shoes. Candles. Stationery. A Frame.  One husband. Me. (Oh, and a scotch egg and a sausage roll in case I got peckish.)

That was us, all set to go.  We arrived excited as a pair of bees on the first day that they discovered nectar at the gorgeous Great John Street Hotel in Manchester for a very wonderful wedding fayre.

Unloading caused a stir.  "Is she Mary Poppins?", I could see people thinking.  Well, I'm a florist and the flowermobile was more like the magic bag in the film.  The only thing we seemed not to have was a brolly with a talking parrot on it.  (For those too young or who think I'm barking, please see the scene here.)

Well, I'm not Mary Poppins, but I am a proud florist, and this is what we shared with over 200 people who came to see the show.  (Minus the carpet bag and the brolly.)


Laura x

 

Here's what came out of the carpet bag.  Featuring a stunning Charlotte Balbier 'Daisy' dress and gorgeous accessories, the stationery designs of Louise Ellen, cupcakes by the Sweet Tooth Cupcakery NQ,  macaroons by the English Rose Bakery, shoes from my wardrobe and flowers by yours truly (that's me, Laura from Laura Coleman Flowers all on display at Great John Street Hotel, Manchester.

The bouquet on the large candelabra.  My what a balancing act.  We pulled it off.  It contained orchids, anenome, stocks, ammi, guelder rose, phlox and roses.  Very scented, very lovely.

Our inspiration boards with all the texture and detail we work with when we meet a bride.  The stationery was styled and hand design by by lovely Louise Ellen.  I do love her work. I get all excited when it arrives.

Eat me.  OK.  Done deal.

A fabulous bouquet.  Even if we do say so ourselves.

Stage left featuring loads of different rose varieties, gloriosa rothchildsana (v. fancy name), tulips, freesia, grevillia (prettier than the name sounds, we promise) eucalyptus and anenome.

Gorgeous accessories from the incredible Charlotte Balbier.  I had people diving round the corner coming to see the lovely 'Daisy' dress.  I think it's gorgeous.  So does my cousin, but she's called Daisy so she's biased.

Stage right.  A competition and my professional portfolio. 

These incredible cupcakes smelt as good as the stocks behind them in the candelabra.  These were made by the Sweet Tooth Cupcakery NQ.  Elvis, they didn't exit the building.  No-surey!  The were snaffled by the GJS team.  They deserved it though.  

This is Bronwen (aka Mrs Wood) to those that know. She's from Great John Street Hotel and manages all of the weddings.  Yes.  All of them.  Busy job I'd say.  She smiles.....alot.  I've also discovered she likes cupcakes.  Always nice to know!

A close up of the delectable macaroons made by the English Rose Bakery.  They make really fab favours with these in bags and boxes tied up with gorgeous ribbon.  Yummy and pretty I say. Yummy and pretty indeed. 

Me.  And the pretty things on the left are our table displays.  Phill, who took the picture likes the way I look too, but he has to say that, we're married and it was in the contract. (Alongside some handy advise from James Jordan that dancing should be a part of all marriages.  It's true, but then he's married to Ola.  Enough said)

Experimenting with jaunty angles.  I think I'll work on it.

Buttonholes featuring cherry brandy roses, grand prix roses, gloriosa, orchids, tulips and freesia.  A four year old who visited us yesterday was very partial to the yellow ones.  She was wearing pink.  I think we have discovered the future in floral talent.

Flowers, cupcakes and macaroons for the sweetest of Mothers Days

Ta daaaaa! 

Here they are - gorgeous pictures of this years Mothers Day collection.

Brought to you by me - that's Laura at Laura Coleman Flowers, and because I can't bake and these guys are frankly brilliant at it, we've brought in the Sweet Tooth Cupcakery in the Northern Quarter and the English Rose Bakery to offer you the best of the best in the Manchester floristry and baking world.

They'll be available online (*little dance of joy * - it will be the first time we've done sales online) from tomorrow.  We'll update this blog with links and all that razamatazz in the morning, and from then you can also call to place an order.

So terribly exciting!

Well, I did promise pictures and here they are (alongside a bit of babble on what we've got on offer this year)

Laura xxx

Stunning rose bouquet containing long stemmed yellow roses, pink phlox, agapanthus (they're the blue ones) white anthirrinum and eucalyptus.  Colours that remind you of, well, cupcakes and macroons.  Funny that.

Ces orchidées sont terriblement chic et élégant. On peut de fantaisie juste à regarder les tout en sirotant un macaron et de boire une tasse de thé chaud anglais Petit Déjeuner. Je suis sûr que votre mère serait d'accord. Translated from English in Google Translate as I don't speak a word of French.  Roughly translates as 'These orchids would look smashing on Mum's table while she drinks a cup of tea and eats a macaroon'***.

Our spring bouquet of tulips, white stocks, blue hyacinth (these are shown in bud here, but wait until these bad boys bloom, they're amazing), narcissus, eucalyptus and pittosporum.  Flanked by yummy 1, yummy 2, yummy 3 and yummy 4. (They'll never go in that box, you're right, the gift box they come in is bigger than that) Tin not included in the price although it is on display in the shop and likes receiving visits and/or compliments. 

Twelve gorgeous macaroons meets spring bouquet.  They met at the Castle Pub on Oldham Street in Manchester for the first time this week.  It was a perfect match.  The tea cup agreed although he can't be bought.  These delectable delights are part of the collection for Mums what love macaroons.

Rose bouquet and a hunky cupcake.  These will be available in 4's or 8's.  Lining eight up and putting them in the picture was tricky.  Very tricky, I ate two of them, and six would have given no reflection of what's really on offer.  The cupcakes come in boxes of four.  One box for Mum, flowers for the Mother in Law....now....what to do with the other box of cupcakes?

Can you resist?

Laura x

***PS For those that want to know what I put into Google Translate - here's the original copy :-) 'These orchids are terribly posh and elegant.  One may fancy just staring at them whilst sipping a macaroon and drinking a cup of hot English Breakast Tea.  I'm sure your Mother would agree.'

Flowers in the cake shop: The teapot and the hyacinth

Yesterday's blog entry went by the wayside.  I was busy as a bee working on flowers for our 2011 Mothers Day Collection including taking pics of them in the Sweet Tooth Cupcakery (big thanks to Ailsa by the way) in the Northern Quarter and then heading to the kitchens of the English Rose Bakery to take even more lovely shots.

Whilst at said photo session in the Sweet Tooth Cupcakery I dropped off their flowers for them.

Here they are.

Feel free to pop into the cake shop to view the blooms and while you're there, I can strongly recommend their Willy Wonka.  Take a visit to see what I mean.

Enjoy the read.

Laura x

The inside track on flowers for the cycling!

It is always great fun working on the World Track Cycling Championships - we've done it for a few years now but it always fills me with excitement. It takes you over - who's going to be representing Team Sky and team GB, will they get to the podium, will the man I see on my Bran Flakes be holding the bouquets I've so lovingly created and will I be as horse from cheering as I was last year when I go and see it all live?

This year it all started with a dress. Yes, a dress. The super glamourous frocks that the medal and flower bearers wear on the podium. British Cycling's brand conscious events team had hand selected the dress to compliment the branding of the event and new website and worked with me to make sure it all tied in - literally, we did tie it in, choosing ribbon that perfectly complimented the outfits and using a completely red palette across all the flowers to make sure they stood out on the television and on the tables. Yes, alongside decorating the VIP suites in the M.E.N Arena, the velodrome is one of the biggest venues we've ever put our flowers in!

So, with this in mind we used incredible red roses in the bouquets, red tulips on the VIP tables and roses, tulips and seasonal flowers for the displays. All perfectly arranged and proudly put in place and checked during daily deliveries. Here's some behind the scenes shots (and a few moments of starstruck floral pride!)

Enjoy the read!

Laura x

A photo of some of the lovely flowers, although this shows only a small percentage of what I used!  The roses were gorgeous.  Used loads of them in the bouquets.  Cyclists who had forgotten Valentines Day needed to pedal pretty hard for their gorgeous red blooms!

A small detail in a giant venue.  Two tulips in a little bowl.  Very stylish and simple yet affective on a smart VIP poseur table.

The VIP entrance with two stunning displays and a very helpful lady with a walky talky.  I am a tad jealous that she had a walky talky.  Childhood dream to own one.

Yes, the velodrome is massive!  This is taken from across the track, which is yes, very steep - I've pootled round it on a bike with no brakes. I would never go so far to say I've cycled on it and certainly not raced!  Anyway, raced or not, I have decorated it - these tables gave an amazing view.

A snap of a few of the flowers we used to create the displays, gorgeous red hypericum berries and amazing strelizia leaves.  They were huge!

One of the VIP arrangments that we designed to reflect the circular movement of the velodrome.

A few of the medallist bouquets all packed and set to go to the velodrome.

On the podium with flowers on the giant screen.  

Sir Chris Hoy after winning a gold medal - well done to the chap on my Bran Flakes box, well done indeed!  Now, you have to look super close, but if you concentrate and focus, you can see a large leaf and a rose poking out the back of his backpack.

Proud, yes, very proud.

Laura x

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I heart thee anenome. Jo and James marry at Samlesbury Hall

The lovely Jo married James at Samlesbury Hall, one of the prettiest and romantic venues in all of the North of England.  This wedding started with a love of colour.  Jo is a graphic designer and had lovingly created her invites in tones of pink, purples and greens.  This and a love of anenomes (and who can blame her) was our starting point.

We've posted a few pictures of her bouquet alongside the flowers before we started crafting them into beautiful wedding items.  Don't worry, this wasn't a giant bouquet created from the mass of blooms you'll see below. We also styled and created bridesmaids bouquets, buttonholes and top table decorations too, it's just that I don't have pictures of them to show you.  Hopefully the former Miss Beecroft (I know, I had to share her maiden name, it's just too nice a name to leave it unsaid) will send us some pictures of them taking their vows so we can see the gorgeous blooms in situ.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and the read.

Laura x

Tulips, steelberries, freesia, anenome, lilac and veronica.  A delightful selection indeed. 

A close up of the stunning pink anenomes we used across the bridal party flowers.

Freesia, lilac, steelberries and veronica.  The freeia was stunning and smelled lovely.  Gorgeous in the buttonholes.

  

Jo's gorgeous bouquet including ivory I harvested from my garden because the colour worked brilliantly, as well as pretty eucalyptus parvifola and cineria.  I really have the best job don't I?

Congratulations to Jo and James xxx

Tasnim's Mehndi - pretty in pink, green and yellow

Every now and again you get a chance to work on something wonderful.  These few delicate items were commissioned for Tasnim's Mehndi party and were a joy to create.  Pink, yellow and lime green all delivered in a nice big white box for her to enjoy. 

My photography is not to be desired, I can hear cries of horror that things of such prettiness can be photographed against the cold dark background of a slate floor, however, focus on the lovely blooms and maybe one day I'll improve my photography skills!  Until then, I have a list of excellent photographers I am happy to recommend, like my baking, my 'through the lens' skills are not likely to improve in the near future. 

Enjoy the pics!

Laura x

To see the wedding of Tasnim and Mohammed, see this link.

A very fine wedding, a very fine wedding indeed

I first met the lovely Lucy and her Mum on a rainy day in Didsbury so meeting them to talk about the ideas they had in mind for Lucy's hot pink and lime green wedding cheered the day incredibly. We got very excited talking about cocktail vases, hot pink calla and slices of lime and that was before she even showed me her stunning one shouldered wedding dress that was more Bond girl elegance than ever before seen!

So there it was, a rainy day and a cocktail inspired wedding dress, a florists day was cheered indeed! Lucy loved the combination of bright flowers and details that we worked on together. Gloriosa rothschildsana, stunning calla lilies, hot pink gerbera, celosia, nerine bowdenii, cymbidium orchids, lime green chrysanthymum, bupleurpum, lilies and astilbe all made an appearance at the Manchester Hilton on Deansgate for what was a truly spectacular wedding.

Now, I'm no photographer, butI thought I'd share a a few pics of the beautiful brights that made Lucy and Simon have a day that was definately not shaken, but certainly caused a stir!

A huge congratulations to them both.

Laura x

A stunning bridal bouquet of bright pink flowers for a hot pink and lime green 'cocktail' inspired wedding at The Manchester Hilton.

Bright green chrysanthymum made beautiful buttonholes. Hot pink ribbon and pins set of the detail for the day.

Loose set flowers in the wedding party colours set into cocktail vases lined with slices of fresh lime.

Each of the places on the top table had a cocktail glass with floating orchid heads and a candle in it to carry the theme through right to the smallest detail.

Lucy chose cube vases of flowers from across her day to feature on the top table in a pallette of pinks and greens with bright ribbon wrapped around the vases. A modern twist on the traditional long and low arrangement that added lots of colour for a perfect day.